The Time Has Come

The first few moments after Bentley's entrance into the world are still crystal clear to me as if they happened in slow motion. Many people ask what was surprising to me about him, and while there are a few things, one of them was his full head of hair! As you have all witnessed, it has continued to grow over the past six months....and grow and grow and grow! Originally Michel and I thought his first haircut would be at one year, but after my sister Jackie brought his mullet-like hair in the back to our attention last week, we decided it was time!

So on Sunday afternoon we set up the barber station in Bentley's bathroom. He was ready to get started.

Here is a closer look at why this boy needs a haircut!

The barber and his client, all set.

So here is where we expected to get some funny pictures, you know, maybe a mohawk or a true mullet by cutting just the top, etc. Well, as soon as Michel took his first swipe, I burst into tears! It was totally unexpected, but when I realized how much hair was coming off I started seeing our little baby transitioning into a boy right in front of my eyes. Bentley started crying too and poor Michel was standing there with clippers in hand wondering what he did wrong. Of course once you start a haircut there is no turning back, so Michel pressed on and I got it together and made it through the rest tear free. It has taken me a few days to get used to it but I'm finally ready to unveil our baby turned into boy Bentley!

I think Bentley is thinking "Wow, I really look like you (now that I have less hair)."

Our big boy.

Celebrations in February

We've had lots of things to celebrate lately! Here is the run-down.

February 6th was my youngest sister Julie's birthday! So my mom, Jules, sister-in-law Janelle and nephews Connor and Cooper came down to celebrate Julie together! It started out as a girls weekend because my dad had a basketball game and Nate was away flying, but of course we couldn't leave Michel, Bentley and the boys out!

The weekend included dinner at our place

Building towers with Connor and Cooper

Playing drums with Bentley at Jackie's cute apartment (thanks Nate & Janelle for the new LOUD toy!)

Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (yum!)

Overall the weekend was thumbs up!

That Sunday we were sad everyone was gone but Jackie came over and we watched the SuperBowl to continue the fun. Many of you know we are Steelers fans. This jersey is from Jackie and is perfect because Troy Polamalu has even crazier hair than Bentley! Bentley is either loyal or doesn't realize he is 1 year behind (Steelers won the SuperBowl last year and didn't even make the playoffs this year).

Two days later came Bentley's 6-month birthday on February 9th! Where has the time gone?? We got to have dinner with our friend Emily from Charlotte who was here for a work conference. We lived across the street from her and Jarred in Charlotte so we miss sharing life with them. So great to see her! Bummed I didn't snap a pic.

Bentley is still our lean machine (15 pounds) but keeps growing longer (29.5 inches). We are LOVING this stage and trying to soak up each day with him. We are on a schedule with nap times which is wonderful. He had to learn how to sleep again, but we've made it through 2 weeks of crying at night and now we are all sleeping well again (Michel gets the credit for that). Life with Bentley just keeps getting better and we continue to be in awe of this little gift! There is a constant joy that wells up inside just by being in his presence. I reflect often on the truth that this is how God views us as His children, and we have no idea how much we are loved.

Bentley loves playing with his blocks and this shirt is one of my new favorites (thanks Jana for sending it from San Francisco!).

Oh I love this sweet face (and the ever-growing hair)...

And this post is getting long enough, so I'll close with the UNC-Duke basketball game last week! It should not exactly be under the heading of things we celebrated (Duke won) but it was amazing to be there in the most electrifying atmosphere! And it was a really close game until the last few minutes when Scheyer took over and hit two 3's to seal Duke's victory.Our friends Kim and Nathan pointed out that one of the UNC players looks like Bentley could look in 18 years (freshman John Henson, #31). During the game my mom even texted to say the same thing! So we had fun cheering for "Bentley" despite the loss. :)

Peas Please

Never in a million years did I think I would be so excited about baby food, all thanks to the Beaba! This product from Williams Sonoma was given to us as a gift from Cindy (Granna to Bentley) and is amazing! It is a steamer and food processor in one, designed especially for make-your-own baby food. It feels like I am 10 years old again, "pretend cooking" with my Easy Bake Oven (do you girls remember those? I was obsessed)!

The Cooking For Baby cookbook (also Williams Sonoma) is perfect and has simple recipes for each stage. The first suggested recipe to move baby beyond cereal is one ingredient: peas! Now this is my kind of cooking! All you have to do is put some water in the machine, add the vegetables or fruit in the steam basket, put the lid on and wait 7-10 minutes for it to be done! Then you remove the basket and it blends your cooking liquid and vegetables in the same container! Seriously as easy as 1, 2, 3. For the moms or soon-to-be moms out there, I definitely recommend asking for this!

And voila! Pureed peas in no time. The containers can be frozen so when we're ready for more peas we can just pop out a 1/4 cup serving and thaw! Amazing! Here is my finished product. Oh, poor babies, they have to eat the weirdest looking things!

Little did I know the best part would be watching Bentley eat it!


And here is the play by play:

"Yay I get to eat something..."
"Wait a minute, this tastes a little different than my normal cereal and breastmilk..."

"I'm not sure I want to swallow this..."

"Okay, I can do this, deep breath and it will be over!"

"Do you people seriously expect me to eat another bite of this stuff?"

Congratulations Bentley! You've conquered your first vegetable!

A Few Favorite Things

I snapped a few pictures yesterday. No real theme except they are things Bentley loves these days! And of the sweetest face we adore.

We've expanded his horizons beyond rice cereal...now on to wheat, oat, and barley cereals! He is taking them like a pro.

He loves playing with no socks on. I feel like he is thinking something like "What's up, my name is Big B" in this picture.

I had to zero in on those big feet that are also getting some chubb on them (finally)!

He loves Poky Little Puppy, both reading it and holding it (thank you Allison!). I have the whole thing memorized by now and love it just as much as he does. The little caterpillar toy in the bottom right is also one of his faves (thank you Steph!).

His most favorite thing is hangin' out with his Papa. Michel was trying to show his muscle definition that he is so proud of, but I had to break it to him that it may be a while before it's visible by camera!